England ‘2,000 midwives short’ as numbers drop across the country — but staffing stable at the South Warwickshire Trust

The South Warwickshire Trust has seen little change in the number of midwives it employs, according to new figures, despite warnings of a staffing shortage across England.

The Royal College of Midwives has accused the Government of doing “far too little” to prevent what it calls a recruitment and retention crisis in the profession across England.

NHS Digital figures show South Warwickshire NHS Foundation Trust had the equivalent of 103.3 full-time midwives working for it in December of 2021, similar to the 104.5 in December of 2020.

In 2019, there were 102 full-time midwives working for the trust.

The picture was not the same for the rest of the country — across England, there were the equivalent of 337 fewer full-time midwives working for the NHS than at the same point in 2020.

It means there are 22,192 working on maternity wards nationally.

Full-time equivalent measures the proportion of full-time hours an employee is contracted to work, meaning the figures are likely to be lower than the actual headcount of staff — some of whom may work part time.

Gill Walton, chief executive of the RCM, a trade union for midwives, warned: “England is still more than 2,000 midwives short of where we need to be and that simply isn’t good enough.

"While we welcome attempts to train and recruit new midwives, this Government is doing nothing to stop the experienced and qualified ones from leaving.

“At the same time as demands on services and the pressures on maternity staff are rising, staff numbers are going down. Despite the often-heroic work of midwives and others to try to plug the gaps, this is putting the quality of care and the safety of women and babies at risk.”